If you’ve ever been involved in the Doylestown music scene, chances are you’ve also seen 19 year old Marissa D’Elia’s work. While working with her high school friend Brian, the founder of Follow and Feel Records, in 2010 D’Elia found, managed, and marketed local bands. Rebuilding the label’s website from the ground up and outlining tours for both small and large bands, D’Elia also personally managed Goodnight Moon, an acoustic outfit led by Ben Lapidus.
Her involvement in the music industry started with Doylestown, her hometown, and its hardcore music scene. “There was always a show going on every weekend and always touring bands and I think [Brian and I] saw that happening and wanted to be a part of it,” D’Elia said.
While working with Follow and Feel, D’Elia managed the label’s social media and organized the bands’ tours, which took a lot of effort. “My network has since expanded since then but it was challenging,” she said of her experience. This hard worked paid off in little victories, like seeing other people be excited about your work. “I was sure that I was passionate it about what I was doing when I saw Goodnight Moon play to a packed house at [Doylestown venue] Siren Records,” D’Elia said. “So many people came out to by the shirts I had made, support Ben, and purchase his music.”
Though Follow and Feel is now defunct after its founders headed to college, D’Elia has made her way to Drexel as a freshman marketing major. Thanks to this experience, D’Elia is now a booking agent and events coordinator at Siren Records where she books local and national bands. She has a while until her first co-op yet, but she knows her experience with Follow and Feel and Siren Records will allow her to explore creative opportunities in anything from the music industry to public relations and event planning.
For now, as she explores Drexel and her new-found free time, D’Elia keeps up her musical interest in her new city. “Philadelphia has an incredible music scene and nearly every weekend I’m at some show in some neighborhood,” she said. “I really love to travel and my best friend and I are always going somewhere around the country and visiting friends or music fests.”
You can also visit D’Elia on the web at her Tumblr page, which she and her friend may turn into a zine. No matter where her interests take her, it seems Drexel is lucky to have such a creative new student.